Archery in Schools

Introduction

Archery is growing quickly as a sport in New Zealand, buoyed by NZ archers’ success on the world stage. There are a number of junior archers around the country who are competing internationally and performing with distinction on the world stage.

Over the past few years, a number of schools have been providing archery as a sport option for their students, and in the main centres, very successful Inter-School tournaments have been run. Many schools are starting to ask about how to get involved in competitions.

Archery in Schools 2017 Shooting Calendar

Term

Postal Round Commences

Results to be received by ANZ before

1

6 Feb 2017

9 Apr 2017

2

1 May 2017

2 Jul 2017

3

24 July 2017

24 Sept 2017

4

16 Oct 2017

5 Nov 2017

How your school can get involved

A postal tournament structure has been approved by Archery NZ for secondary schools (years 9-13) and intermediates (years 7-8), as well as a face-to-face secondary school tournament each term in some regions. Within a few years, it is hoped that a National Inter-School Archery Championships can be run. Archery has now been sanctioned by CollegeSport in the Auckland region.

Schools that are looking to start up archery will be put in contact with a local club in their area, and there are a number of options which can be discussed with the club.

Please note:Not all clubs are able to offer assistance at this time, due to a shortage of coaches or equipment. Interested students are welcome to join local clubs, and participate in this programme on behalf of their school.

Suggestions for Starting up Archery in Schools

1) Setting up a range on your school grounds

There are some benefits for schools to be mostly self-sufficient. If you have sufficient space for setting up a range on your grounds, clubs can assist in advising what equipment is required (buttresses, targets, bows, arrows, accessories, etc.) and will be able to give advice for setting up the range in a safe and appropriate manner.

In this situation it is necessary for teachers in charge, and possibly a couple of the senior students, to complete a basic instructor course which is provided by the Archery NZ Coaching Commission. This course will provide the ability to effectively set up and operate an archery range with an emphasis on safety and the ability to instruct students in the basics of archery. The schools may wish to arrange for some club coaches to visit regularly to provide more advanced coaching instruction. If coaches are not available during after-school training sessions, the students may be able to travel to the club for a weekend training session, such as a Saturday morning.

2) Coaching sessions at a club

If there is no suitable area for a range at the school grounds, training could be carried out at the club’s range, either using the club equipment, or bringing their own. This could be carried out in week-day afternoons if coaches are available at a time that suits a school, else in the weekend.

3) Joining a club

Another option involves joining the students up to a local club, undertaking the club’s novice coaching course, and purchasing their own equipment (approx $300 or so for a novice Recurve setup). This gives the students the flexibility of coming to the club whenever they want and joining in the club activities.While not necessary, it is recommended that the teacher in charge and some senior students go through a basic instructor course to allow them to run their own training sessions and coaching. Alternatively, the club may take on this activity.

Tournaments

A postal shoot is run once per school term. The event is run at 15m, and can be completed during a normal school sports training session. This event can be shot as often as desired before the end date each term, and each archer’s highest score is submitted. Schools can also compete as teams in this event. If you would like to participate in this shoot, please email [email protected].

In addition to the postal shoots, Archery NZ is looking to coordinate secondary school tournaments each term. A number of cities have already been running these events successfully for the past few years. Initially, it is hoped to run tournaments in Auckland, Gisborne, Manawatu, Wellington and Christchurch. Schools in nearby cities are encouraged to attend these events too. If there is more than one school in a separate area, however, a tournament can be set up there.

Archery NZ will appoint tournament coordinators for districts, and they will help to facilitate the tournaments which will, in general, be run by clubs throughout the regions. For information about these tournaments, please contact [email protected]

Please Note:The new 2017 inter-school term dates are to be found within the ‘Archery In Schools Shooting Rules’ section. Please note the date for Term 4, this is to try to provide the competition results for the schools with in time for the end of year presentations.Could you please send all results via email by the ‘Results to be received by’ listed for each term. This is to attempt a turn-around of full results before the end of that current term. All paper work can then follow. Thank you.